General Hotel Management (GHM) has appointed Clement Koh to be the group’s inaugural executive vice president for sales and marketing.
In this newly-created role, Koh will continue to oversee GHM’s strategic expansion of its collection of luxury properties, as well as brand development campaigns and new commercial initiatives to support the company’s growth momentum.
A veteran commercial and branding professional, Koh offers a wealth of expertise acquired over three decades of luxury hospitality management, including senior leadership positions at Mandarin Oriental Group in Hong Kong and Minor International in Thailand.
He previously served as GHM’s vice president of sales of marketing and presided over corporate strategic, branding and communications efforts. In 2013, Koh assumed additional responsibilities in shaping the group’s business development strategy as senior vice president. He also played a key role in enhancing the content curation capabilities and best practices for GHM’s hotels and resorts.
Following on from Thailand’s Sandbox reopening schemes in 2H2021, the Kingdom has moved on to welcome fully vaccinated tourists without quarantine requirements since November 1.
Thailand’s unrestricted welcome will be offered initially to at least 10 low-risk countries, including the UK, Singapore, Germany, China, and the US. This will build up towards January 2022, when Thailand fully reopens her borders to international travellers.
Furthermore, negotiations are underway for two-way travel bubbles with neighbouring countries to speed up intra-regional travel recovery.
Phuket was the first Thai destination to welcome again international travellers
Sharing details of the intended travel bubbles in October, Thailand’s minister of tourism and sports, Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, said that many international tourists are keen to visit places outside of the designated Sandbox areas, but are deterred by prevailing quarantine requirements.
As a first step, the Thai government is negotiating with Cambodia to reopen Trat province in eastern Thailand and Cambodia’s Koh Kong island. The deal is expected to be finalised within the final quarter of this year.
Authorities are also in discussion to link Malaysia’s Langkawi Island with Koh Lipe Island in southern Thailand, and with Laos for a similar arrangement.
Recent progress in travel and tourism recovery has sparked optimism among Thailand’s trade players, with Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) expressing confidence that a host of activities to be rolled out nationwide would help return Thailand to her position among the world’s most desirable tourist destinations.
TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn said focus now would be on promoting destinations that ready and safe for visitors, in a bid to rebuild travellers’ confidence, as well as to establish high-value tourism products and services, such as those promising luxurious experiences, health and wellness attention, sports activities and community-based exposures.
TAT’s areas of focus are in line with the Ministry of Tourism and Sports’ pledge to develop high-end tourism so as to attract bigger spenders.
Sisdivachr Cheewaratanaporn, managing director of Quality Express Tour, told TTG Asia that Thailand’s reopening announcements have been well received by important source markets.
Although citizens of China, Japan and Hong Kong are still banned from travelling abroad, Sisdivachr said interest from consumers there is promising.
“Tourists in many countries want to travel to Thailand,” he said, adding that Indian travellers are ready to descend on Thailand once entry restrictions are relaxed.
Also, European tourists are likely to be among the first groups to return to Thailand during the year-end season and in 1Q2022.
He shared that his agency has started working with overseas agents to sell packages, and have received “fairly good feedback”.
Luzi Matzig, chairman of Asian Trails Group, said the reopening of Thailand to vaccinated visitors will restore confidence from international markets, especially in Europe, which are crucial to the country’s tourism recovery.
Some 70 per cent of the European Union’s adult population has been fully vaccinated and allowed to travel overseas. However, travellers want the Thai government to waive the need for certificate of entry application in order to ease travel, he said.
Matzig is currently working with agents in Europe to prepare tours, and the response has been “very positive”.
Supawan Tanomkieatipume, managing director of the Twin Towers Hotel Bangkok, said room enquiries have spiked while many hotels in the capital and in major tourist destinations have been receiving calls from potential clients looking to rent spaces to run year-end events.
Tourism operators in the Maldives have hailed the government’s enforcement of a minimum wage for local workers across all industries and sectors, a move which would significantly benefit workers in the tourism sector.
Tourism is the country’s biggest foreign exchange earning industry with close to 50,000 workers across more than 150 resorts, of which nearly 50 per cent are locals. The minimum wage decision, being enforced for the first time in the Maldives, would come into effect from January 2022.
Maldives’ new minimum wage law will come into force from January 2022
“This is a very welcome move. It’s a good win for the tourism industry,” said Abdulla Ghiyas, past president of the Maldives Association of Travel & Tour Operators, who was among stakeholders including government agencies that decided on the move.
He said the government has worked with the respective stakeholders for the past 2.5 years on this scheme, which has been categorised into small, medium and large businesses.
Mauroof Zakir, general secretary of the Tourism Employees Association of the Maldives, a trade union, said the minimum wage for tourism workers has been set at 8,000 Maldivian rufiyaa – equivalent to US$519 – monthly.
“We had requested for US$600 but we are happy with this remarkable achievement,” he said, adding that the minimum wage for tourism workers will exclude service charge and overtime pay.
Zakir, who was also part of the negotiating team of stakeholders, said that although there will be a two-year moratorium on the implementation of the minimum wage for foreign employees, he hoped that resorts would also implement the scheme for their foreign staff from January.
Princess Cruises has unveiled its 2023-2024 cruises and cruisetours season departing from Australia and New Zealand, which includes the longest ever world cruise from Australia.
Four MedallionClass ships – Majestic Princess, Royal Princess, Grand Princess and Coral Princess – will sail to 117 destinations in 43 countries across Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific, South-east Asia, Europe and South America.
Coral Princess will depart from Sydney in April 2024 for a 110-day world cruise
The 2023/24 season will include more than 100 departures onboard the Royal Princess and Majestic Princess. Both ships will be based in Sydney. The Grand Princess will cruise from Melbourne and Coral Princess will sail from Brisbane and Fremantle.
The four ships will offer 40 Australian cruises and more than 30 New Zealand cruises, plus eight Asian itineraries and ten Trans-Pacific sailings.
Highlight of the season is the Coral Princess’ 2024 world cruise, visiting 32 countries in 110 days. The cruise departs on April 30, 2024 from Sydney and May 2, 2024 from Brisbane. The itinerary includes overnight stays in St Petersburg (Russia), Lima (Peru), and New York.
Along with the world cruise, Coral Princess will also sail on Australia’s circumnavigation itineraries.
Other highlights include departures from six Australia and New Zealand homeports including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth (Fremantle), Adelaide, and Auckland.
Extended More Ashore stays in a variety of destinations include overnights in Tahiti (Papeete) and Cairns, as well as late-night stays in Auckland, Hong Kong, Honolulu, San Francisco, Tahiti (Papeete), and Vancouver.
Guests can also enjoy access to more than 14 UNESCO World Heritage Sites including The Gondwana Rainforests of Australia (from Port Douglas), the Greater Blue Mountains (from Sydney), and The Tasmanian Wilderness (from Burnie).
Two cruisetours are also available, including the Australian Outback where guests have the opportunity to immerse themselves in Aboriginal culture and visit two UNESCO World Heritage Sites – the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru National Park’s iconic Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock).
The other cruisetour, Ultimate Australia, guides guests through the highlights of Sydney, Uluru/Ayers Rock in the heart of the Outback, Darwin, Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef.
Travel booking platform Klook has formed a joint venture with ZA Tech Global, the technology venture founded by ZA International, that will accelerate the availability and accessibility of travel-related insurance to consumers across the globe.
The agreement will synergise Klook’s global presence and hyper-localised go-to-market strategy, alongside ZA Tech’s experience in insurance innovation and technological know-how.
From left: ZA Tech’s Young Yang and Klook’s C.S. Soong sign partnership that will enable global consumers to purchase digital travel insurance products seamlessly
With this joint venture, insurers will be able to partner with Klook to feature their insurance products on the platform. The agreement will see Klook work closely with insurers to design products that address the pain points of consumers in this new normal.
Klook will partner with insurers AXA and Chubb to kickstart travel-related insurance products on its platform by the end of this year, with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region.
ZA Tech will export its proprietary solution Fusion to Klook’s platform to create a seamless digital experience for travellers and the ecosystem partners; while Klook will leverage ZA Tech’s customer insights to various markets to strengthen product innovation, customer engagement and increase insurance penetration.
“The pandemic has changed the way we travel, with customers demanding increased assurance when they travel once cross-border travel resumes,” said C.S. Soong, vice president, corporate development at Klook.
“We are excited about this milestone partnership with ZA Tech, as this is the first time any travel player will be rolling out a full suite of travel-related insurance on a multi-market level. With this, we can further simplify customers’ travel journey, enabling them to discover, book and purchase all they need during their travels from travel-related insurance to experiences.”
Young Yang, general manager of ZA Tech Southeast Asia, added: “Travel is a journey to explore and we want to make customers’ every step count with insurance protection. To that end, we are inspired to embed insurance in customers’ travel experience with ZA Tech’s insurtech innovation and enable the broader community to get insured.”
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and Mastercard have jointly launched 16 new and exclusively-curated local tourism and lifestyle experiences, as part of their new domestic marketing campaign.
These experiences include sailcations, staycations, movie experiences, local adventures, and gin creation workshops.
A forest bathing session is among 16 experiences on the Rediscover Priceless Singapore platform
Bringing together the SingapoRediscovers campaign and Mastercard’s Priceless Singapore platform, the Rediscover Priceless Singapore campaign will support domestic tourism businesses and promote local brands.
The campaign is based on a joint study done by STB and Mastercard which found that families and young professionals make up more than half of local cardholders.
During Covid-19, domestic spending by families held steady with around 30 per cent of their spend channelled towards dining, retail, attractions, and accommodation categories. Young professionals’ domestic spend grew by 14 per cent, with around 30 per cent of their spend going towards dining, retail, and accommodation categories.
Using these insights, STB and Mastercard curated 16 diverse experiences across these categories. Some of the experiences feature local lifestyle brands, for instance, sampling gins and creating a personalised bottle of gin at Brass Lion Distillery or savouring Straits Preserves’ Ginger Garden Tea, alongside the brand’s signature marmalade and nut butters.
Mastercard cardholders will also get to enjoy a wide range of deals across dining, retail, attractions, and accommodation categories, including 1-for-1 promotions, discounts, and value-added gifts.
The 16 experiences will run till January 31, 2022. Price ranges from S$45 (US$33) to S$5,992, and experiences can be purchased at www.priceless.com/RediscoverSG.
Correction: This article has been updated to show that the 16 experiences will run till January 31, 2022, instead of January 31, 2024 as previously stated.
Hilton has signed two deals that will see the group opening its first Waldorf Astoria hotel in Osaka, Japan; and a Conrad hotel in Chongqing, China.
The two management agreements were inked with Orix Real Estate Corporation and Chongqing Jiafa Industrial Co., respectively.
Rendering of Waldorf Astoria Osaka
Alan Watts, president, Asia Pacific, Hilton, said: “The strong growth momentum in Asia demonstrates the resilience of Hilton’s luxury brands amidst a dynamic operating landscape as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. It also signals great confidence from the owner and investment communities in the strength of our luxury brands.”
Hilton currently operates 30 hotels under the company’s group of luxury brands – Waldorf Astoria, Conrad and LXR – in Asia-Pacific, with a further 17 hotels in its development pipeline, due to open over the coming years.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) and its low-cost arm Scoot will restart flights between Singapore and India, under a vaccinated travel lane scheme (VTL) marking the resumption of scheduled flights between the two countries after nearly two years.
From November 29, SIA will operate daily VTL services from Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai to Singapore. The flights are open for booking, and will be indicated as VTL flights on the airline’s website accordingly.
Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai added to the vaccinated travel lane network
Additionally, SIA will progressively operate non-VTL services from Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi and Kolkata to Singapore from November 29.
Scoot will operate four weekly non-VTL services between Singapore and Hyderabad from November 30, and three weekly non-VTL services between Singapore and Tiruchirappalli from December 2.
The deadline for Singaporeans to use their SingapoRediscovers Vouchers (SRVs) for eligible attractions, hotels and tours has been extended until March 31, 2022, but bookings must still be made by December 31.
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said on Monday (November 22) that it had announced in April this year that the SRV scheme would end on December 31. “However, we understand that some Singaporeans may not have been able to use their SRVs due to reduced group sizes and capacity limits at tourism establishments,” it said. “This extension allows Singaporeans more time to enjoy their SRV experiences.”
Experiences booked using SingapoRediscover Vouchers can be enjoyed up till March 31 next year
This is the second time that the SRV scheme has been extended, following an earlier extension from end-June to December 31.
The voucher scheme was launched last July to boost the tourism sector amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Under the scheme, every Singaporean aged 18 and above was given S$100 (US$74) worth of tourism vouchers, which can be used on hotel staycations, attraction tickets and tours.
In line with the latest extension, the five authorised booking partners – Changi Recommends, GlobalTix, Klook, Traveloka and Trip.com – will add more booking slots.
Singaporeans can also bring their original identification documents to book their experiences at the physical SRV booking counters across Singapore before December 31.
From January 1, the authorised booking partners will no longer accept tourism bookings made using SRVs, and all physical SRV counters will be closed.
Those who wish to donate their vouchers can do so via the five authorised booking partners which offers donation options or through the physical booking counters.
STB reminded Singaporeans that reselling or exchanging the SRVs for cash is strictly not allowed. “STB conducts regular checks to ensure the SRVs are used for their intended purposes and will not hesitate to take action against businesses or individuals that abuse the SRV scheme,” it said.
As of November 1, close to 1.3 million Singaporeans have used their SRVs at least once, making over 1.6 million transactions. Collectively, about S$256 million in vouchers and additional expenditure have been spent under the scheme.
To ease the pre-travel preparation process for Singapore travellers, Expedia and Raffles Medical Group have teamed up to offer pre-departure Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests at a rate of S$124 (US$90).
Outbound travellers who book any travel service through the Expedia Singapore app or website, and need a pre-departure Covid-19 PCR test, can now take one at any of the 36 participating Raffles Medical Clinics in Singapore.
Any travel booking made on Expedia Singapore website or app will offer pre-departure Covid-19 PCR test
To be eligible for the PCR tests, Expedia customers are required to book any travel offering through this link: www.expedia.com.sg/lp/b/rmg. Once a booking is complete, they can proceed to schedule an appointment for their pre-departure Covid-19 PCR test through www.rafflesmedicalgroup.com or the Raffles Connect App.
Customers will be asked to present their NRIC/FIN and Expedia.com.sg itinerary at the selected clinic on the day of their test.
Since the launch of the vaccinated travel lanes (VTL), Expedia has observed strong demand for travel to VTL destinations among Singaporeans, with search data showing high interest for travel in the year-end holiday period.
Expedia Group’s managing director and senior director of government and corporate affairs, Asia, Ang Choo Pin, said: “The growing confidence in international travel is good news for the travel industry, but we understand that the additional steps and costs of a mandatory pre-departure Covid-19 test may add stress to travellers. Expedia’s goal is to help travellers get the most out of every trip, by providing all their travel needs on a single platform.
“We hope this important collaboration with Raffles Medical Group to offer pre-departure Covid-19 tests will help ease pre-travel planning stress so that our travellers can better enjoy their holidays.”
Travel booking platform Klook has formed a joint venture with ZA Tech Global, the technology venture founded by ZA International, that will accelerate the availability and accessibility of travel-related insurance to consumers across the globe.
The agreement will synergise Klook’s global presence and hyper-localised go-to-market strategy, alongside ZA Tech’s experience in insurance innovation and technological know-how.
With this joint venture, insurers will be able to partner with Klook to feature their insurance products on the platform. The agreement will see Klook work closely with insurers to design products that address the pain points of consumers in this new normal.
Klook will partner with insurers AXA and Chubb to kickstart travel-related insurance products on its platform by the end of this year, with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region.
ZA Tech will export its proprietary solution Fusion to Klook’s platform to create a seamless digital experience for travellers and the ecosystem partners; while Klook will leverage ZA Tech’s customer insights to various markets to strengthen product innovation, customer engagement and increase insurance penetration.
“The pandemic has changed the way we travel, with customers demanding increased assurance when they travel once cross-border travel resumes,” said C.S. Soong, vice president, corporate development at Klook.
“We are excited about this milestone partnership with ZA Tech, as this is the first time any travel player will be rolling out a full suite of travel-related insurance on a multi-market level. With this, we can further simplify customers’ travel journey, enabling them to discover, book and purchase all they need during their travels from travel-related insurance to experiences.”
Young Yang, general manager of ZA Tech Southeast Asia, added: “Travel is a journey to explore and we want to make customers’ every step count with insurance protection. To that end, we are inspired to embed insurance in customers’ travel experience with ZA Tech’s insurtech innovation and enable the broader community to get insured.”